Sunday, December 21, 2014

"For me, I look at the UFC audience and the boxing audience as being two different audiences entirely. Our audience in boxing is ethnic, hispanic, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Mexican and the hardcore boxing fans who can't watch, like me, who can't watch UFC. UFC are a bunch of skinhead white guys watching people in the ring who also look like skinhead white guys."

Ariel Helwani, maintaining class as the interviewer:"Well, I take offense to that, just because I'm a person who covers the sport. I'm not a skinhead. I'm actually a Jew. I'm not a white guy."

Mr. Bob Arum, J.D., ladies and gentlemen, on Boxing VS UFC. What on earth can you say? All class, as usual. Incidentally, if you click on the link, he doesn't sound. . .let's say particularly enthusiastic about promoting a Mayweather/Pacquiao match. He also refers to Mayweather as a "head case," says UFC fighters roll around like "homosexuals" and implies that the prevalence of tattoos in UFC is basically not for boxing fans, despite the abundance of tattooed boxers. Of course, nonsense. But, that goes without saying. It's Bob Arum!

Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing

Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:

Saturday, December 20, 2014

This page is your ultimate reference list to our links for classic boxing GIF posts. The requirement for it being classic is that we've posted it. You've been warned. Find all your favourites by alphabetical order for forums, Facebook, downloading, etc. Thanks for stopping by, please bookmark and share if you enjoy what we've done so far.

Friday, December 19, 2014

In the above GIF, Teddy Atlas gets in George Foreman's face and shoves him, in the lead up to 1994's Michael Moorer VS George Foreman bout. George would take the heavyweight championship of the world from Teddy's fighter to become a two-time champion and the oldest heavyweight champion of all time. Michael comes in behind to try and calm Teddy down. George, cool as a cucumber, tells Teddy during this to "Go get me a sandwich and sit down." How long would Big George have remained cool if they hadn't calmed Teddy down? I do not know. I think Teddy was getting very close though.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

"We know Pacquiao wants the fight. We know Mayweather wants the fight. That's a given, you know, and Bob Arum is coming out with this nonsense that Richard Schaefer is not even involved with Mayweather, you know, it's ridiculous, now, what Bob is talking. You know, everybody wants the fight- except Bob Arum. He doesn't want the fight. What's the problem? Let's make it happen."

Does anyone else find it odd that De La Hoya said both fighters want the fight and Arum doesn't, in 2011? Does anyone else find it odd that this is exactly what Alex Ariza said while working with Pacquiao in 2011 and exactly what Ariza reiterated while working with Mayweather in 2014? Me, I find it odd.

Jack Benny introducing Ernie Terrell: "Win or lose, he's a fellow who's going to do alright. Because, besides belting out his opponents, he also belts out a very good song."

Winner of a major heavyweight championship and nearly fifty professional boxing contests, word has it that Ernie Terrell has passed away. Here he sings on The Hollywood Palace, in a taunting song to Muhammad Ali, in 1967, ahead of their February bout in that year. Terrell and Ali's verbal dispute carried into the ring as part of boxing lore in the colourful "What's my name?" story. Of course, this was only a piece of the career Terrell had, as a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Ernie was a fine fighter and a multitalented man. Our condolences to his friends and family.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

2012 Olympian from Cleveland, Terrell Gausha, undefeated as a pro, takes on fellow prospect Cesar Vila on the opening ESPN2 bout for their nice card in Temecula, California.

The action:

While there were times when Gausha was muscled back, smothered a bit, caught while stationary with his guard, leaving a nice target for a big swing from his Cesar Vila, it's nitpicking with this excellent prospect. He put on a good performance with good action for his television audience. Gausha's offense was so pretty last night I think there could've been a novella called "Terrell Gausha's punches and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King.

He may have room for improvement when a guy is putting the pressure on, but he also walked Cesar Vila, a gritty foe, onto plenty of left hooks and right uppercuts as he came in. Here and there, Gausha worked a stiff-arm maneuver on Vila without him knowing quite how to deal with it, getting measured and kept in place with that left and smacked with the right. Jack Reiss, in his discretion, didn't have much to say about that, as many refs don't. When Vila did his best to drag Gausha into a fire fight, particularly before he he had Gausha on the ropes, he got battered more and more up to the time of the stoppage. It's not many young fighters that can land sweat-flying jab/straight right combinations from so close, the way Terrell did. Blistering, short, sharp, accurate, and while under intense aggression.

The ending:

With a big lead and in the zone Gausha stood in front of Vila and fired two rapid one-two's for a four-punch demolition. The way Vila hit the deck and the wide lead seem to have been the decider for Referee Jack Reiss to go ahead and call it immediately, though in the eighth and final round. There was a protest in the corner that was censored by ESPN. They weren't happy. I believe I heard Jack say first "I seen enough, man." and then "Hey, look at the score cards." to the corner. The stoppage was a little questionable, partly because Vila was ready to get up and continue and it was called before he had a chance to try and show Jack Reiss this, and partly because it was nearing the final bell. I can neither strongly agree nor disagree with it. I understand Jack's stoppage, I think, and I understand also why the corner was upset. I guess that's why being a referee means always knowing that you'll never please everyone, but you might at least keep someone well enough to fight another day. Gausha KO8 Vila.

What it means to me:

While I have plenty of time for complimenting Gausha, I've got some for Vila too. He was not technically in Gausha's class but that is not to say he doesn't have class. I will not be at all surprised if I see Vila come back from this one. He landed more than a couple bombs, didn't allow himself time to be discouraged in getting the worst of the action and went out on his shield, he can come back better. He is 28-years-old and clearly has a fighter's heart and mentality. Gausha's stock didn't rise so much as his experience did. Eight more pro rounds in the books, still remaining an excellent prospect and a very good choice for any channel that wants to have him on the card. Fox, ESPN, even Showtime seem to know he's a good pick when available. The guy is good TV and a well-schooled threat.

Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing

Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

"One thing a lot of people don't understand, you know, when a guy is holding, if his tactic is to throw a combination and to hold, that's his fight plan, you know. Providing that he is not holding so much that he is interrupting the other guy, or, you know, making the fight a bad fight, there's not too much you can do. But a lot of people don't understand that, you know, when there is holding, that means that a person is holding, but the other person, most of the time, is allowing him to hold."

~Richard Steele, the fifteenth of May, 1987, discussing the controversial and unsatisfactory match between Ossie Ocasio and Dwight Muhammad Qawi, which he'd refereed. The interview actually took place after both the Ocasio fight and the following match between Evander Holyfield and Ricky Parkey (a significantly more fan-friendly affair), on the Showtime channel.

This match was one of those matches that the commentators want someone to pay for after being forced to watch it. Richard Steele threw up a roadblock for Marv Albert in the post-fight interview, by saying he basically had no problem with the scoring and there wasn't much more to be done about the clinching. It was a funny interview in a way, with Albert clearly and fruitlessly wanting Steele to echo his sentiments, and an interesting take on clinching from a professional referee and former fighter. With regard to Steele's easygoing scoring opinion, basically saying the judges know best, Marv Albert actually said "You're kidding me." Steele gave Albert no quarter in his passivity. He didn't even give him a penny. He rolled right over his prodding in polite and unassuming fashion. He was almost controversial by way of trying not to be controversial.

Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing

Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

"Arum said 'The media is like a dumb rock. You just kick it in any direction you want. They'll believe anything you say.' ""This fight is not happening because of Bob Arum.""Don't get me wrong. Manny truly wants to fight Floyd, and I know Floyd wants to fight Manny."

"I know it's not going to happen because that was always the agenda. Make sure that Manny doesn't fight Floyd. Michael Koncz, Bob Arum, do not want that fight to happen, have never wanted that fight to happen."

From this fairly recent interview, Alex Ariza states, just as he did while still working with Manny Pacquiao in a November of 2011 interview, also with Fight Hype, that Bob Arum is a "greedy pig" and essentially goes on about how Arum deliberately blocks this fight from happening. If you aren't familiar with these interviews, for however many grains of salt you choose to take them with, at least read the 2011 interview and watch the 2014 interview I've linked to, to hear what Ariza has to say. In deciding whether to catch these interviews, perhaps also keep in mind the old Cus D'Amato quote "When Bob Arum pats you on the back, he's just looking for a
spot to stick the knife." That's a quote that can also be found in quite an impressive list of quotes on Bob Arum in Thomas Hauser's The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing. Who do you believe about this issue? I don't know if we should put any faith in the words of Alex Ariza. But I do know that putting faith in the words of Bob Arum is like putting your morning coffee in a colander. You can do it. You might try, if you're in a particularly festive mood, but I don't know if it will leave you with much.

Work that bag,
Basement Gym BoxingThanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

This page is designed to be as complete as possible a reference list and
guide to the sparring of Heavyweight Contender and European Champion Tyson Fury as can
be found. It is part of our broader project, the main page list for finding sparring partner
history, to be found here:

5. Anthony Joshua: Joshua was an amateur. Tyson says: "He came out at me for three rounds
and he give me a beating. I'm not going to admit-or deny it. He give me
what for, hell for leather, for three rounds. I thought 'Oh, my God, the
amateur's killing me.' " and "I don't mind telling anyone that he beat
me up in sparring."
Source: Tyson Fury, in interview with Steve Bunce, in or before 2010.

8. Carlos Takam
(unverified): For his called-off rematch with Dereck Chisora, this
sparring was scheduled but I have not verified it taking place.
Source: Sky Sports

9. Ola Afolabi:
James Ali Bashir mentions seeing Ola and Tyson box each other in one of
Wladimir Klitschko's training camps. He says they had a "furious pace"
going and he thought Afolabi started to get the better of it when they
pulled Fury out. He said it was exciting to see them spar.

Source: James Ali Bashir, in a BaylorIC interview with Ingram Jones (a great interview). March 09, 2013

10. Nathan Cleverly:
Cleverly's father and trainer Vince Cleverly said "He has handled
heavyweights in sparring like Tyson Fury and Dereck
Chisora, and they have hit him with their best shots and not moved him."
Vince said this in the lead-up interviews for Nathan's defense against
Sergey Kovalev.
Source: ESPN

12. Malik Scott: Scott mentioned in an interview with Elie Seckbach, that he was impressed with Tyson Fury when he sparred him, adding that Tyson busted both of his eardrums in their sparring and then took him out for dinner, apologising. Malik added that if Fury got a fight with Wladimir Klitschko, another of Malik's many sparring partners, he'd have to pick Fury.
Source: EsNews

14. Arfan Iqbal: For his match with David Haye (scheduled but did not take place). The training took place in Belgium and Iqbal had this to say:

"I was there for
three-and-a-half weeks, but it feels longer when you spar
Tyson Fury every day. We sparred four rounds every day and it was tough. . .When
I first got there his reactions were slow, but when he sharpened up he
had great speed and movement. I didn't expect a guy who stands 6ft 9ins
tall and weighs 18 stones to be so fast and mobile."

15. Rico Verhoeven: Rico is a kickboxer who says he met and sparred Fury first three years previous to his interview, helping him prepare for Wladimir Klitschko. He's glowing about Fury's abilities in the ring and his movement and stamina for a big man, and ability to switch stances. He claims Fury closed both of his eyes wearing headgear during their sessions. He also claims Fury's camp made several Dutch kickboxers quit in sparring and that they weren't used to anything like it and couldn't handle it.

1. Tyson was quoted in a Q & A session with Ring Network as saying: "From as soon as I began boxing as a teenager, I've been able to handle
men who were double my age and had double my experience. At age 15, 16, I
was sparring pro heavies and, mentioning no names, 'owning' British
cruiserweight champions."
Source: Fight Network

2. For Tyson's match with Dereck Chisora, in greatly uncommon fashion, when Chisora initially postponed the match on account of injury, his own sparring partner volunteered to step in and save the date. This was Alexander Ustinov. It appeared that, as unusual as it was, this match would take place instead, but a medical issues involving a close relative reportedly rattled Tyson out of the match.

3. It is widely reported by Tyson's trainer of the time, that for his eventual rematch with Dereck Chisora, Tyson was struggling so badly with a chest infection that he had to be sent home, unable to spar four rounds due to weakness.
Source: Daily Mail

For questions, concerns or corrections, please comment, and if it's for something you can source, feel free to link us to that source for our records to be as accurate for everyone as possible.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

During the lead-up coverage of Sugar Ray Leonard's rematch with Tommy Hearns, in June of 1989, in an article by Bernard Fernandez, quotes like these remind us of the now lengthy history of PED's working its way into publicity for big boxing contests:

"Monday night's scheduled 12-rounder between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas
Hearns, which is likely to become the highest- grossing prizefight of
all time, is now a running gag about the possible use of anabolic
steroids by Leonard."
~Bernard Fernandez

"I take it personal. . . It's so ludicrous. It's a slap in the face to me and to
boxing. We have enough criticism of this sport."
~Sugar Ray Leonard

"We would like for (Leonard) to take a physical
before and after the fight. We've been hearing too much that Ray's been
taking steroids. I can't give you the source, but we've heard it before
we got out here."
~Emanuel Steward

"I was on the promotional tour with Ray and he wasn't all pumped up. It seemed like it happened overnight."
~Tommy Hearns

"Without a basis (for conducting such a test), it is disrespect to such a great champion as Sugar Ray Leonard,"
~Jose Sulaiman (then WBC president)

It seems so recent in boxing that PED accusation is part of "trash talking" and pre-fight negotiation gamesmanship, if not for truly genuine concern. In recent years, I've heard Floyd Mayweather Junior repeat "Take the test." to Manny Pacquiao (through media), as well as Jean Pascal, rather directly, at his ancient tormentor, Bernard Hopkins. I've also heard Alexander Povetkin and Kubrat Pulev both goading Wladimir Klitschko about it, all casting doubt on the validity of their propspective opponents, and in each mentioned case of the fight happening (all but Mayweather VS Pacquiao), what happened to be their conquerors. Of course, these are cases where tests do get taken, just not the tests the opponent has desired, and/or the way they desire them, and/or from who they desire to administer them. It's a giant, and exasperating trap for boxing fans. In a way, no one is ever above reproach on this topic, simply because there are no requirements for any form of suspicion and there is no way to eliminate all forms of suspicion with something like this, no matter what tests you take. It doesn't mean you shouldn't try, but it does mean if you want to cast doubt on someone, anyone, it's always an available option. It doesn't matter if you have proof. It doesn't matter if you have evidence. It doesn't matter if you're doing it because you believe it or because you are preparing an excuse for a future loss, or are already a sore loser.

All testing may be insufficient. All testing may be wrong. All testing may fail where a cheater succeeds or, hey, where an innocent athlete is found guilty. Hey, maybe the person doing the testing is wrong! All the testing has experts trying to figure out how to cheat them. No testing is a guarantee you've got any kind of level playing field. All of the world of true sport (i.e., not poker) seems to have some degree of PED paranoia or frustration about testing inadequacy, and boxing, being influenced by many different outlooks from its fighters, athletic commissions and sanctioning bodies has been developing quite a high degree of PED paranoia and testing dissatisfaction for some time now. It did not start with Money and Pac Man, of course. Nor will it end with Doctor Zerokiller and The Bulgarian Cobra. Not to mention, this complex and broad-ranging of a subject is far beyond the average layperson's fundamental knowledge, just as it was in 1989, if not much more so, as it stands now. I see that worsening as time goes by, not that your average fan wants to admit ignorance to something they'd love to understand, which plays such a large part in their sport. It's like having someone living in your house and you don't really know who they are or where they come from or what they're doing. It might even be easier to pretend they aren't there, if you can.

Boxing fans seem to have three main groups that make up the overwhelming majority of this issue, from my observation. There are the vehement deniers or the rabid accusers that certain fighters are on what is vaguely under the PED's umbrella, or banned substances list, less vaguely, most seemingly arguing out of false certainty, and then, thirdly, those that realistically admit they have little idea what is going on either way. The deniers and accusers seem well in the lead, ahead of group number three, to my reckoning. Maybe the admitted ignorance group is larger than I think, and their silence has fooled me. I commend their restraint, whether they're much fewer or greater in number than I've noted. In any case, it's a strange feeling to look back on 1989, with two legends going into a giant fight, bickering over PED's accusations. All these years later and it seemed to be a major enough sticking point between our pound-for-pound icons that they went to court over it and still didn't fight. Also, noting that Wladimir Klitschko's camp, much like Pacquiao's, decided to take Kubrat Pulev to court, I'm seeing in the headlines today. Ah, 1989. My, how you've grown.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Richard Dwyer, on his Youtube channel, which I regularly check, in discussing the way Algieri's style was poorly matched with Manny Pacquiao's, on Saturday night. Fans grow tired of hearing the phrase "Styles make fights." but this is a nice alternative phrasing for something that will always be true, whether its reminders get tiresome or not.

I'm reading through fans slating Algieri as an irrelevant fighter before and an irrelevant fighter now. But, he held a major world title before, and he still holds one in that weight class. Irrelevant, he is apparently not. His 2014 may have been full of busy jumps up in quality of opposition, in bigger and bigger stages, starting great on ESPN, moving to difficult but still great on regular HBO with an upset, and ending harshly, but on a large PPV event. Either way, regardless of the ending of the year for him, it's all made him quite relevant. One fight does not make or break a whole career. Styles do make fights as much as levels, people. Keep it in mind when discussing Algieri's future.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

From a particularly ironic paragraph of an article by Carlo Rotella, in The New York Times, leading up to Shannon Briggs' 2007 clash with Sultan Ibragimov, about Briggs' hyping his 2006 fight with Sergei/Siarhei Liakhovich:"Briggs said, “I don’t get caught up in the race thing,” but he told me
more than once that promoters and cable networks favor the Russian
heavies because they’re white. He also enjoyed retelling the story of
how he’d spread the false rumor that Liakhovich, known as the White
Wolf, had used a racial slur. Briggs had been playing a prefight head
game, trying to put his opponent on the defensive. At their postfight
press conference, Liakhovich, plainly upset and still dazed, earnestly
assured Briggs that he had never called him any such thing. “I smiled,”
Briggs said, “and I said: ‘I know. I made it up.’ He was, like,
‘Whuuuh?’ ”

This article is something beyond an article about Shannon Briggs with some ironic humour. It expands into the territory of an American philosophical breakdown, with Shannon Briggs, perhaps among the most unfit fighters to carry such a burden at such a time, becoming the focal point. The article illustrates a major cultural shift in the global sport of boxing and an odd kind of analysis of why the shift was taking place. I may write an article of my own about this piece, actually, because I find it so interesting. Either way, it's important to remember and beware that Shannon Briggs will make
you racist if you're not careful. He's clever like that. Watch out, folks!

Work that bag,Basement Gym Boxing

Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

You don't see it very often, a double knockdown, but it happened to Tommy Hearns, well into the twilight of his career, all the way up at Cruiserweight, and at the age of forty, against South Carolina journeyman Jay Snyder. Only one stayed down a bit.

Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing

Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:

About Me

This place is all straight talk on the sport and nostalgia, with no trolling for arguments and provocation like many boxing hangouts. I won't pander to anyone for promotional hype or call it as I don't see it. I try not to say a thing I wouldn't say to a person's face. If you support how we do it, come on back, maybe give us a like or share for whatever page, on whatever social media. We'd appreciate it.

Please feel free to comment. All I ask is no SPAM or calling world class athletes bums. I'll just remove off topic links with no on topic comments, any off topic advertising, vitriol, that sort of thing. Whatever else, drop a word in to let me know you're around. Also, please only link your comment to your site if it isn't X-rated, promoting violence outside the ring, illegal activity, etc. I don't mind if it's a personal blog or political, on another sport, this sport, whatever as long as it doesn't link me to the type of thing I mentioned.